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Ever since Internet was invented (in early 70s), the exponential growth of the network and its users are phenomenal. More and more applications were developed and become our daily companion (or lifestyle).

Beginning with Email application, followed by World Wide Web (hypertext and hypermedia), the crave for killer applications never stops. Developer and software companies competing each other to develop cutting-edge application to satisfy the demand from computer users.

If we get used to sharing files and media over the network or Internet, cloud computing is not a strange buzzword to understand. The word “cloud” itself depicted the network of network (Internet) concept. Normally we draw an Internet network in cloud symbol.

So, a cloud computing consist of network, computers, servers, applications, networking devices, cables, softwares and peripherals. When the term “cloud computing” is used, we can imagine a full load of resources that is accessible and shareable over the Net.

The term infrastructure as a service (IaaS), application as a service (AaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and etc. being used to describe computing resources are no longer bounded to products type or category but merely regarded as a service. This is where, the traditional way of establishing a computing system or environment will be changed.

We have private, public, hybrid and community cloud at the moment. There are few commercial cloud services (i.e. Amazon EC2) being offered to the consumer. Currently, cloud computing is popular among big corporation and data centers for its agility, scalability and reliability (redundancy, high availability architecture) features.

It is envisaged that one day, personal computer users will no longer need to have personal storage like hard disk or thumb drive, everything can be stored in cloud services. Whenever we need a file or media, we can get it over the Net. Of course, public and community cloud is still debated for its security issues, however research and development to address this shortcoming is underway and will surely bring something positive.

That is why, tablet computer (i.e. iPad), intelligent devices (PDA, smart phones) are getting popular. The future trend is to have a computer that is highly usable, robust, high mobility, and small in size (light). We will witness this change gradually.

If you want to know more about cloud computing and what it has to offer, just google them 🙂